Re:On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality
by closeparen on Thursday November 16, 2017 @11:35PM
(#15718955)
The point is, structural disadvantages are perpetuated and worsened by people and behaviors that are not specifically discriminatory or hateful themselves. Of course the mechanism is usually related to discriminatory or hateful views held by someone at some point.
I don’t like the conflation of terms either. But I see a lot of people talking past each other (“racism isn’t a big deal because most people aren’t racist anymore,” and “racism is a major problem in America because of structural inequality”). Parent got close to explaining how these statements are true at the same time, and I wanted to point it out.
Re:On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality
by dragonwriter on Friday November 17, 2017 @12:17AM
(#15719145)
The statements aren't true at the same time. Racism—of the personal kind—is very common (nigh universal), even if much of it is subconscious.
There are vast piles of research showing that personal racial bias manifesting through discrimination, whether or not it is conscious/intentional, is pervasive in America.
Structural racism is real, but it is not independent of personal racism—it is produced by and perpetuates personal racism.
Re:On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality
by weberc2 on Friday November 17, 2017 @08:44AM
(#15721869)
I'm of the impression that most racial bias research depends on the implicit associations test, which hasn't been shown to actually measure bias and is apparently plagued by several other weaknesses including low reproducibility. I'm curious to know more.
Re:On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality
by dragonwriter on Friday November 17, 2017 @09:28AM
(#15722204)
A lot of what I've seen is based on tests of behavior toward others in scenarios where factors other than indicators race (skin tone in photos or illustrations, race-stereotypical names in case files, etc.) are identical. These are direct measures of bias that manifests in discrimination, bypassing any problems with the IAT.
Re:On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality
by weberc2 on Friday November 17, 2017 @09:50AM
(#15722327)
Can you recall any identifying information about those studies that might make them easier to Google for? Of course, links are also appreciated!
Re:On Being Midwestern: The Burden of Normality
by dragonwriter on Friday November 17, 2017 @12:11PM
(#15723823)
Here's a 2015 NYTimes article with summaries of and links to a number of studies of this type:
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/upshot/the-measuring-s...
Incorrect. More correct would be: the dominant modern left-wing view is that there exists now in much of the world, and has historically, a systematic structural power imbalances between groups identified as “races”, that this disproportionately harms some of those groups, and that this is bad thing.
That the confluence of all those things is the proper referent of the label “racism” rather than that label referring to racial bias which is a component of all that is far more controversial even within the left.
> For example, divesting from your neighborhood out of concern for your property value when PoC start to move in does not necessarily reflect an individual racial bias. It could be a purely rational economic calculation based on other people’s biases. It’s still the bread and butter of the system of racism.
Uh, yes, because it's a product of someone's racial biases, it's still a part of systemic racism even by the simpler and more common definition of racism, because its a product of racial biases within the social system.